#13: Adam And Eve by Paul Anka

City: London, ON
Radio Station: CKSL
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in London ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #46
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #90
YouTube: “Adam And Eve”
Lyrics: “Adam And Eve”

Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1941. His father was Syrian-American and his mother was Canadian-Lebanese. While growing up in Ottawa he was part of a vocal trio at Fisher Park High School called the Bobby Soxers. In the fall of 1956, Anka signed with the RPM label and released his first single, “Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine”. It made the Top Ten in Smith Falls (ON). He had a #1 hit in 1957 titled “Diana”, and performed in concert at the Georgia Auditorium in Vancouver on October 23, 1957. Others on stage were Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Buddy Knox, Eddie Cochran, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

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#30: Stampede/You Gotta Be A Music Man by Danny Valentino

City: London, ON
Radio Station: CKSL
Peak Month: January 1960
Peak Position in London ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Stampede”
Lyrics: N/A
YouTube: “(You Gotta Be A) Music Man”
Lyrics: N/A

Vincent Pacimeo was born in 1941 in Flushing, New York. He was interviewed on the This Is My Story website by and Dik de Heer in 2016. Pacimeo first sang in public when he was five-years-old. Then his career as a musician was launched when he was nine-years-old and appeared “on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour television show playing the drums.” His musical influences were Al Jolson and WWII big bands (like Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman etc.). As he got better at drumming, Vince was invited to “play with older and seasoned musicians. By that time he was tap dancing and singing Broadway and movie musical songs.” Vince was inspired by the great singer and dancer, Gene Kelly. In the early 50s, singer and tap dancer Gene Kelly starred in numbers of musicals, including An American In Paris (1951), Singing In The Rain (1952), and Brigadoon (1954). Vince had a dream that he could be a great singer and dancer like Gene Kelly. In his mid-teens, Vince was captivated by jazz music. And he began to focus more on his vocal skills than his drumming.

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#1: Tamiami by Bill Haley and His Comets

City: Fort William, ON
Radio Station: CJLX
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in Fort William ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Tamiami”

Bill Haley was born in Michigan in 1925. His dad played the mandolin and banjo while his mom played the piano. In a story Haley would relate years later in a biography, he recalled as a child when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one. Sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album, Rock Around The Clock, describe Bill Haley’s early life and emerging career: “Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band.”

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#34: Mr. Lucky by Henry Mancini

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: June 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube: “Mr. Lucky”

Enrico Nicola Mancini was born in Maple Heights, Ohio, in 1924. Both his parents were Italian immigrants to the USA. At age eight Enrico learned to play the piccolo. He later studied at the Juilliard School of Music. When he turned 18 he enlisted in the United States Army he met Glenn Miller at basic training. Owing to a recommendation by Miller, Mancini was first assigned to the 28th Air Force Band before being reassigned overseas to the 1306th Engineers Brigade in France. In 1945, he helped liberate the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. In 1946, he became a pianist and arranger for the newly re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra, led by ‘Everyman’ Tex Beneke. (Glenn Miller was declared missing in action after his plane disappeared over the English Channel in December 1944). In 1952, Henry Mancini joined Universal Studios’ Universal-International music department. In 1952 he scored music for The Raiders, and in 1953 for The Glenn Miller Story. 

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#39: House Of Bamboo by Earl Grant

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: May 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube: “House Of Bamboo”
Lyrics: “House Of Bamboo”

Earl Grant was born in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma in 1931. Grant attended four music schools, eventually becoming a music teacher. He augmented his income by performing in clubs during his U.S. Army service, throughout which he was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas. Grant signed with Decca Records in 1957. His first album was released in 1958 titled The Versatile Earl Grant. His first single “The End” reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 13, 1958. It would be his only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “The End” subsequently appeared in the motion pictures Iron Maze (1991), Days of Tomorrow (1993), and A Dirty Shame (2004), and the TV show Lovecraft Country (2019).

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#2: Paradise by Sammy Turner

City: Fort William, ON
Radio Station: CJLX
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in Fort William ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #24
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “Paradise”
Lyrics: “Paradise”

Sammy Turner was born Samuel Black in Patterson, New Jersey, in 1932. When he was 18, he put his dream of being a singer on hold and joined the U.S. Air Force and fought in the Korean War as a paratrooper. After the war ended in 1953, Turner worked as an accounting clerk, and sang at nightclubs at night. He was spotted by a talent agent who got Sammy Turner a record deal with Bigtop. He was being compared to the Platters lead singer Tony Williams, and Tommy Edwards. In early 1959, Sammy Turner and the Twisters released “Sweet Laurie Anne” – based on an 18th century poem written by William Douglas. The single was a Top 30 hit in Winnipeg, and a Top 20 hit in Buffalo. Turner went solo after this, and the Twisters became the Rivingtons who had a hit in 1962 titled “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”.

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#6: Misty by Johnny Mathis

City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: January 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Cashbox Top 100 Best Sellers ~ #12
YouTube: “Misty”
Lyrics: “Misty”

Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.

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#14: Waltzing Matilda by David Carroll & Orchestra

City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: January-February 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #112
YouTube: “Waltzing Matilda”
Lyrics: “Waltzing Matilda”

David Carroll (given the birth name Rodell Walter Schreier) was born in Taylorville (IL) in October 1913. There is very little to find in a search online about his background. By the time he was an adult, David Carroll was becoming an accomplished musician, able to arrange, direct and conduct music. In 1952, by the age of 28, Carroll conducted the orchestra backing Vic Damone on his #13 hit “Sugar”. Carroll was back in the recording studio the following year with Damone to craft the #10 hit “April In Portugal”. As well, he conducted two Top Ten hits in ’53 for Rusty Draper: “No Help Wanted” and “Gambler’s Guitar”. In 1954, he conducted the number-one hit, “Sh-Boom”, for the Crew Cuts. (The song was a ‘white cover’ of the original by the R&B group The Chords. Carroll was in the studio for the Crew Cuts subsequent mid-50s hits: “Earth Angel”, “Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)”, “Gum Drop”, “Angels in the Sky”, “A Story Untold”, “Don’t Be Angry” and “Young Love”.

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#17: Baciare Baciare by Dorothy Collins

City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: February 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #41
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #43
YouTube: “Baciare Baciare”
Lyrics: “Baciare Baciare”

Dorothy Collins (birth name Marjorie Chandler) was born in 1926 in Windsor, Ontario. She adopted her stage name in her mid-teens. From late childhood, she sang on radio stations in Windsor and Detroit. In 1940, at age 14, she and her family were introduced to bandleader/composer Raymond Scott in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, she became Scott’s protégée. In early 1942, at age 15, she became a featured vocalist with Scott’s orchestra, performing on radio and on tour. Scott groomed her for stardom, which included coaching her vocals (pitch, phrasing, and delivery) and mentoring her performance skills. In the late 1940s, she contributed vocals to the revived Raymond Scott Quintette, a sextet that released records on the bandleader’s own Master label and served as house band on the radio program Herb Shriner Time.

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#23: Time And The River by Nat “King” Cole

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: February 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #44
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Time And The River”
Lyrics: “Time And The River”

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama. His family headed by his Baptist minister father, moved to Chicago in 1923. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. Coles first performance was the Billy Jones chart-topping 1923 hit, “Yes! We Have No Bananas”, at the age of four. Cole began formal piano lessons at 12, learning jazz, gospel, and classical music. As a youth, Cole joined the news delivery boys’ “Bud Billiken Club” band for an African-American newspaper called The Chicago Defender. At the age of 15, Nat Cole left school to follow a path in music. In 1936, with his bassist brother Eddie, Nat Cole became part of a sextet named Eddie Cole’s Swingsters. Cole was married in 1937 and moved to Los Angeles. He formed a band called the King Cole Swingsters. They were named after the British nursery rhyme Old King Cole (was a merry old soul…). ” The name next was changed to the King Cole Trio in anticipation of making radio transcriptions, and recording for small record labels.

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#12: Happy Anniversary by the Four Lads

City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: January 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #36
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube: “Happy Anniversary”
Lyrics: “Happy Anniversary”

The Four Lads are a Canadian male quartet from Toronto, Ontario. They were originally made up of Corrado “Connie” Codarini, James F. “Jimmy” Arnold, John Bernard “Bernie” Toorish and Frank Busseri. They met as members of St. Michael’s Choir School. Originally, they named themselves the Otnorots (made up mostly of spelling the place name Toronto backwards. They changed their name to the Four Dukes. But after they found out a group in Detroit had the same name, then they settled on the Four Lads. They got a break when Mitch Miller noticed them when they were recruited by talent scouts to go to New York. Mitchell had them sing back-up on Johnny Ray’s 1951 smash hit, “Cry”, and his big follow up, “The Little White Cloud that Cried”.
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#24: Talk To Me by Frank Sinatra

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: February 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #38
YouTube: “Talk To Me”
Lyrics: “Talk To Me”

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915 in Hoboken, NJ. Sinatra spent much time at his parents’ tavern in Hoboken, working on his homework and occasionally singing for spare change. After leaving school before graduating, Sinatra began performing in local Hoboken social clubs and sang for free on radio stations such as WAAT in Jersey City. In New York, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group called the 3 Flashes to let him join. Baritone Fred Tamburro stated that “Frank hung around us like we were gods or something”, admitting that they only took him on board because he owned a car and could chauffeur the group around. Sinatra soon learned they were auditioning for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour show, and “begged” the group to let him in on the act. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and passed an audition from Edward Bowes to appear on the show. They each earned $12.50, and ended up attracting 40,000 votes to win first prize—a six-month contract to perform on stage and radio across the U.S. Sinatra quickly became the group’s lead singer, and, much to the jealousy of his fellow group members, garnered most of the attention from girls.

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#42: Pink Canary by the Club 93 Rebels

City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in Edmonton: #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Pink Canary”

In 1938, Wes Dakus was born in Mannville, Alberta. He moved to Edmonton and formed The Rebels in 1958. The Rebels quickly became one of the most popular predominantly instrumental groups on the prairies. They performed in rural hotels and seniors drop-in centres. Initially the band was known as the CJCA Rebels. It was Edmonton radio station that promoted them. CJCA gave The Rebels air-time on its local talent features and helped them with the bookings. The Rebels became one of the regular bands at The Commercial and The Rainbow Ballroom in Edmonton. By the time Dakus caught the attention of Quality Records’ VP Lloyd Dunn, he and The Rebels had gotten to know Alberta’s roads like the backs of their hands. By this time The Rebels were making tours across western Canada. The band travelled to Clovis, New Mexico where they recorded with Buddy Holly’s producer Norman Petty. He ultimately became their manager, and two singles were released under the name of The Club 93 Rebels, a nod to their radio station sponsor CJCA 930-AM.

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#30: Clementine by Bobby Darin

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: May 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~#21
YouTube: “Clementine”
Lyrics: “Clementine”

Walden Robert Cassotto was born in the Bronx in May, 1936. His mother, born in November 1917, was pregnant with him when she was only sixteen, giving birth to him when she was seventeen. In the 1930’s, being a pregnant teenager was very improper. So she gave birth and was introduced to her son as his older “sister.” In order for the deceit to be pulled off, young Robert was raised by his grandmother, Polly, who he understood was his mother. And he understood that his “mother” had given birth at a later stage in life. His “mother” was a showgirl in her earlier days and so not the “grandmother type.” So the ruse was successful. It was not until 1968, when he was 32 years of age, that he discovered that his older sister, Giovannina Cassotto, was actually his mother. In his childhood, Robert learned to play piano, drums and guitar. According to his biographies, Walden Robert Cassotto suffered from rheumatic fever as a child. Bobby’s real sister, Vivienne, said years later, “my earliest memory of Bobby as a child was about his rheumatic fever. We couldn’t walk on the floor because just walking across the floor would put him in agony. I remember Bobby crying and screaming and my father having to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom, he was in so much pain. I remember being told all my life, “Bobby’s sickly. You have to be careful, and you have to protect him.” Between the ages of eight and thirteen, Bobby had four illnesses with rheumatic fever. Each one damaging his heart muscle more severely than the previous illness.

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#32: My Love For You by Johnny Mathis

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: September 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #23
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #47
YouTube: “My Love For You”
Lyrics: “My Love For You”

Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.

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#17: Fame And Fortune by Elvis Presley

Peak Month: April 1960
Peak Position #1
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube.com: “Fame And Fortune”
Lyrics: “Fame And Fortune”

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.

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#28: Hound Dog Man/Friendly World by Fabian

Peak Month: November 1959
A-side: “Hound Dog Man”
Peak Position #1
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
Peak Position on Cashbox Singles Chart ~ #11
YouTube.com: “Hound Dog Man”
Lyrics: “Hound Dog Man”

Peak Month: January 1960
B-Side: “Friendly World”
Peak Position #2
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
Peak Position on Cashbox Singles Chart ~ #16
YouTube.com: “Friendly World”
Lyrics: “Friendly World”

Fabian Forte was born in Philadelphia in 1943. His father was a police officer in the city. Forte was discovered in 1957 by Bob Marcucci and Peter DeAngelis, owners of Chancellor. At the time, record producers were looking to the South Philadelphia neighborhoods in search of teenage talents with good looks. Marcucci was a friend of Fabian’s next-door neighbor. One day, Fabian’s father had a heart attack, and, while he was being taken away in an ambulance, Marcucci spotted Fabian. Fabian later recalled, “He kept staring at me and looking at me. I had a crew cut, but this was the day of Rick Nelson and Elvis. He comes up and says to me, ‘So if you’re ever interested in the rock and roll business…’ and hands me his card. I looked at the guy like he was out of his mind. I told him, ‘Leave me alone. I’m worried about my dad.'” When Fabian’s father returned from the hospital he was unable to work, so when Marcucci persisted, Fabian and his family were amenable, and he agreed to record a single. Frankie Avalon, also of South Philadelphia, suggested Forte as a possibility. Fabian later said, “They gave me a pompadour and some clothes and those goddamned white bucks and out I went. He was the right look and right for what we were going for”, wrote Marcucci later.

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#84: Pineapple Princess by Annette

Peak Month: August 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX Chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #11
YouTube.com: “Pineapple Princess”
Lyrics: “Pineapple Princess”

Annette Joanne Funicello was born in Utica, New York in 1942. In 1955 she began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve when Walt Disney discovered her performing as the Swan Queen in a dance recital of Swan Lake at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. She became one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. As a teenager, she became a pop singer and shortly after an actress in a series of films popularizing the successful Beach Party genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s. On July 17, 1955 Annette Funicello made her television debut during the live broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day ceremonies. She participated in a song and dance routine promoting the upcoming debut of Walt Disney’s new television show, The Mickey Mouse Club. Following the shows premier on Monday, October 3, 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club became an immediate hit. Its army of small, amateur mouse-eared stars took America by storm. It wasn’t long before the young audience of boys and girls developed a particular interest in a little dark haired girl named Annette.
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#99: A Mess Of Blues by Elvis Presley

Peak Month: August 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube.com: “A Mess Of Blues”
Lyrics: “A Mess Of Blues”

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.

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#104: Stairway To Heaven by Neil Sedaka

Peak Month: March 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
YouTube.com: “Stairway To Heaven”
Lyrics: “Stairway To Heaven”

In 1939 Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Brighton Beach beside Coney Island. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America from Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1910. His fathers side of the family there were Sephardi Jews and his mother’s side Ashkenazi Jews from Russian and Polish background. When Neil was eight years old he listened to a show on the radio called The Make-Believe Ballroom that opened his world to appreciation for music. Within a year Neil had began learning classical piano at the Julliard School of Music. His progress was impressive and Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists after he turned 16 years old.

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#106: Little Bitty Girl by Bobby Rydell

Peak Month: January 1960
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “Little Bitty Girl”
Lyrics: “Little Bitty Girl”

Robert Louis Ridarelli was born in 1942 in Philadelphia. He displayed a musical aptitude as a young child. At the age of eight, his reputation led to an appearance on a talent show on the national television series, TV Teen Club. He won the contest, and the show’s presenter, Paul “The King of Jazz” Whiteman, recruited him into the cast, where he remained for several years. It was here that his name was Anglicised to Bobby Rydell. When he was 15 in 1957, he played drums for Rocco and the Saints, across from trumpet player Frankie Avalon. In 1958 he released “Dream Age” on the small Veko Record label. Two followup releases on Cameo, “Please Don’t Be Mad” and “All I Want Is You” also failed to make a breakthrough. But his third release on Cameo Records, “Kissin’ Time”, got him national exposure. The single climbed to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 in Vancouver’s Sensational Sixty on CKWX in September 1959. A followup, “We Got Love” broke into the Top Ten to peak at #6 on CFUN in Vancouver in late October ’59, matching its peak on the Billboard Hot 100. In all, Bobby Rydell had a hit record on the Vancouver pop charts in 1959 for a total of 21 weeks.

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#112: My Old Man’s A Dustman by Lonnie Donegan

Peak Month: June 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “My Old Man’s A Dustman (Ballad of a Refuse Disposal Officer)”
Lyrics: “My Old Man’s A Dustman (Ballad of a Refuse Disposal Officer)”

Anthony James Donegan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1931. His dad was a violinist in the Glasgow-based Scottish National Orchestra. Donegan became a fan of swing jazz and country music as he grew. When he was fourteen he got his first guitar. In the late forties “Tony” Donegan had learned how to play the banjo. Bandleader Chris Barber heard Donegan and had him audition for his Trad Jazz band. Tony Donegan played with the Trad Jazz band for a few years until he was called up for National Service that included three months of military training. While in the National Service in Southampton, England, Donegan played drum in Ken Grinyer’s Wolverines Jazz Band. In 1952 he began the Tony Donegan Jazzband. On June 28, 1952, Donegan’s band opened a concert for Lonnie Johnson at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Johnson was an American jazz and blues singer and pioneer of jazz guitar and jazz violin. Tony Donegan decided to bill himself as Lonnie Donegan in tribute to Lonnie Johnson.

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#132: Hot Rod Lincoln by Johnny Bond

Peak Month: August 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX Chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #26
YouTube.com: “Hot Rod Lincoln”
Lyrics: “Hot Rod Lincoln”

Cyrus Whitfield Bond was born in 1915 in southern Oklahoma. Prior to 1907, Pickens County had been part of the Chickasaw Nation in the “Indian Territory.” His parents were farmers. In school, Bond played in a brass band. While in high school “Johnny” bought a ukulele, and subsequently learned the guitar. Bond first performed on radio in Oklahoma City when he was 19 years old. In 1937, he began performing with Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrell in the Bell Boys trio, named after the Bell Clothing Company, which sponsored the group on radio station WKY in Oklahoma City. With Decca Records the trio recorded as the Jimmy Wakely Trio. And with Columbia Records they recorded under the name Johnny Bond & the Cimarron Boys. In 1940, Bond went on to join Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch. He also performed with his own band the Red River Valley Boys.

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#134: Wonderland By Night by Anita Bryant

Peak Month: December 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX Chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube.com: “Wonderland By Night”
Lyrics: “Wonderland By Night”

Anita Bryant was born in 1940 in a small town in northeastern Oklahoma. Her parents divorced by the time Bryant was 18 months old. Her father left to join the U.S. Army and fight in the war effort. While her mother got a job at Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City. When Bryant was two years old, her grandfather taught her to sing “Jesus Loves Me”. She was singing onstage at the age of six, at local fairgrounds in Oklahoma. She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey’s talent show came to town.

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#317: Step by Step by the Crests

Peak Month: April 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
Youtube.com: “Step By Step”
Lyrics: “Step By Step”

The Crests were a doo-wop group formed by J.T. Carter with Talmadge Gough, Harold Torres and Patricia Van Dross. With a group in place Carter chose Johnny Mastrangelo to be the lead vocalist and had his name on the billing as Johnny Mastro (later changed to Johnny Maestro). Maestro’s vocal style helped The Crests rack up five Top 40 hits on the national Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. Their first record was in 1957 with “Sweetest One“. Van Dross left the group after their debut single release. Their second single release, “16 Candles“, climbed up to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1959.  Other Top 40 hits included “Six Nights A Week”, “The Angels Listened In”, “Step By Step” and “Trouble In Paradise”. the late 1950’s, The Crests performed on several national teen dance shows, including American Bandstand and The Dick Clark Show. The group was inter-racial: African-American, Puerto Rican and Italian-American.

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#138: Let’s Have A Party by Wanda Jackson

Peak Month: August 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
YouTube: “Let’s Have A Party”
Lyrics: “Let’s Have A Party”

Wanda Lavonne Jackson was born in 1937 in Maud, Oklahoma. According to Wolf Kurt in his essay, “You Can’t Catch Me: Rockabilly Bursts Through The Door,” Jackson’s dad was a musician. In search of a better life, he relocated the family to Bakersfield, California, in the 1940’s. While in Bakersfield, her dad purchased Wanda a guitar and taught her to play. Tom Jackson also took his daughter to live concerts by Spade Cooley, Tex Williams and Bob Wills, which opened her eyes and ears to the exciting world of country and western music. It was when she was eleven years old that her family returned to Oklahoma in the fall of 1948. In 1954, while she was still sixteen years old, Wanda Jackson started to sing professionally in Oklahoma City. While in high school, Jackson had been discovered by country music recording artist, Hank Thompson, who heard Wanda singing KLPR-AM in Oklahoma City. Thompson asked Wanda to sing with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. This led to her recording several  songs with Capitol Records. Among those was a duet with the Brazos Valley Boys bandleader, Billy Gray titled “You Can’t Have My Love”. The song climbed to #8 on the Billboard country chart.

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#140: Bad Boy by Marty Wilde

Peak Month: March 1960
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #45
YouTube: “Bad Boy”
Lyrics: “Bad Boy”

Reginald Leonard Smith was born in 1939 in Greater London. He was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London’s Condor Club in 1957, when he was spotted by impresario Larry Parnes. Parnes gave his protégés stage names like Billy Fury, Duffy Power and Dickie Pride, hence the change to Wilde. The ‘Marty’ came from the 1955 Academy Award winning Best Picture, Marty. Wilde gave an audition of the Jimmy Rodgers hit “Honeycomb”, and got a record contract on the spot. Both “Honeycomb” and Wilde’s cover of “Oh-Oh I’m Falling In Love Again” got airplay in the UK, but didn’t crack the pop chart.

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#141: Blue Angel by Roy Orbison

Peak Month: September-October 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
CFUN Twin Pick Hit ~ September 3, 1960
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
Peak Position on Cashbox Singles Chart ~ #13
YouTube: “Blue Angel”
Lyrics: “Blue Angel”

Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas in 1936. When he turned six his dad gave him a guitar. Both his dad, Orbie Lee, and uncle Charlie Orbison, taught him how to play. Though his family moved to Forth Worth for work at a munitions factory, Roy was sent to live with his grandmother due to a polio outbreak in 1944. That year he wrote his first song “A Vow of Love”. The next year he won a contest on Vernon radio station KVWC and was offered his own radio show on Saturdays. After the war his family reunited and moved to Wink, Texas, where Roy formed his first band, in 1949, called The Wink Westerners.

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#160: Storm Clouds by Buddy Knox

Peak Month: August 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Storm Clouds”

Buddy Wayne Knox was born in 1933, in Happy, Texas, a small farm town in the Texas Panhandle a half hour south of Amarillo. During his youth he learned to play the guitar. He was the first artist of the rock era to write and perform his own number one hit song, “Party Doll“. The song earned Knox a gold record in 1957 and was certified a million seller. Knox was one of the innovators of the southwestern style of rockabilly that became known as “Tex-Mex” music.

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#165: The Blamers by Les Vogt

Peak Month: August 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
1 week Future ‘FUN Favorites
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “The Blamers”

Les Vogt was the lead singer for the premier local rock n’ roll band in Vancouver called The Prowlers. As described in his bio, he writes “I was a tall, shy kid that became interested in music at the age of 13 when my older brother (Ed) took me to a few “live” concerts… Louis Armstrong and Wilf Carter were the most memorable. After seeing a Wilf Carter concert in 1951, I took my older brother’s hand-me-down guitar and learned to play and yodel in the confines of my bedroom.” At the time, Vogt was a Grade Eight student at John Oliver High School. By 1953, Vogt became part of the Fraserview Drifters, along with his friend Larry Tillyer (guitar), Laurie Bader (drums), Eric Olsen (accordion) and for awhile Wayne Dinwoodie (fiddle). As country music was the only alternate to the big band sound, the Fraserview Drifters played covers of Eddy Arnold, Hank Thompson, Marty Robbins, Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine and others. By 1954, the set shifted to covers of “Sh-Boom” by the Crew Cuts, “Three Coins In The Fountain” by the Four Lads, and other pop tunes. By 1956, a guitar player from Nova Scotia, Fred Bennett, had moved to Vancouver. And he joined the band.

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#190: Lucky Devil/There’s A Little Song Singing In My Heart by Carl Dobkins Jr.

A-side: “Lucky Devil”
Peak Month: February 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “Lucky Devil”
Lyrics: “Lucky Devil”

B-side: “(There’s A Little Song Singing) In My Heart”
Peak Month: February 1960
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #52
YouTube: “(There’s A Little Song A-Singing) In My Heart”

Carl Dobkins Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January 1941. He was raised in a musical family. At the age of nine Carls’ mom and dad bought him a ukulele with a plastic Arthur Godfrey attachment that played chords by pushing buttons. He soon took off the attachment and learned over fifty hillbilly songs as a child. At the age of sixteen, young Carl made a demo of two songs he wrote with his backup group, The Seniors. In Cincinnati Gil Sheppard was a popular deejay. Friends in Carls’ neighborhood introduced him to Gil Sheppard. The deejay was taken with young Dobkins Jr. and his musical ability and the demo he had recorded. Sheppard offered to become his his manager. Carl Dobkins Jr. was promoted as “The Teenage Rage.” As a result of the buzz that happened as a result of his singing at dance parties and record hops, Carl was signed up with Fraternity Records in Cincinnati. His only release with Fraternity was his 1958 single “Take Hold of My Hand” b/w “That’s Why I’m Asking”.

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#222: Lonely Teenager by Dion

Peak Month: December 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube: “Lonely Teenager”
Lyrics: “Lonely Teenager”

Dion Francis DiMucci was born in the Bronx, NY, in 1939. His parents named him Dion in honor of the French Canadian Dionne quintuplents who captured the interest of millions around the world after the five infants were born in May 1934. Dion’s dad, Pasquale DiMucci, was a vaudeville performer and Dion accompanied him to see his dad on stage. As a child he was given an $8 dollar guitar by his uncle while he lived on 183rd Street. Dion’s childhood was set in the midst of conflict between his parents. In an interview with New York Magazine in 2007, Dion remembers “…There was a lot of unresolved conflict in my house… My pop, Pasquale, couldn’t make the $36-a-month rent on our apartment at 183rd and Crotona Avenue.” He was a dreamer, a failed vaudevillian, and sometimes Catskills puppeteer. He’d talk big and lift weights he’d made from oilcans, while Frances, Mrs. DiMucci, took two buses and the subway downtown to work in the garment district on a sewing machine. “When they’d start yelling, I’d go out on the stoop with my $8 Gibson and try to resolve things that way.”

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#252: Doll House by Donnie Brooks

Peak Month: December 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube: “Doll House”
Lyrics: “Doll House”

In 1936 John Dee Abohosh was born in Dallas, Texas. His family moved to Ventura, California when he was in his youth. In his teens he was adopted by his stepfather, John D. Fairecloth, who supported young John in developing his voice. John Dee Abohosh was than given the surname Fairecloth. While growing up in southern California, he studied under the same vocal coach who previously instructed Eddie Fisher. In high school John Dee Fairecloth made his professional debut on a classical music showcase broadcast by Ventura-based station KBCC. After graduating from high school, Fairecloth earned his living singing at local clubs, fairs, and weddings, embracing rock & roll and in 1957 signing to local indie Fable Records to cut his debut single, “You Gotta Walk The Line”, credited to Johnny Faire. He was twenty-one years old.

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#254: Angela Jones by Johnny Ferguson

Peak Month: April 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Angela Jones” – Johnny Ferguson
YouTube: “Angela Jones” – John D. Loudermilk (composer)
Lyrics: “Angela Jones”

John Lambeth Ferguson III was born in Nashville in 1937. He graduated from Hillsboro High School Ferguson began his musical career in the late 50s while he was a disc jockey on a variety of small stations in and around the Nashville, Tennessee. He had begun doing work as a DJ while still in high school for WNAH, WAGG and WSM-TV. As a writer, he managed to have a couple of his songs recorded by country acts Judy Lynn and Pat Kelly. In 1958 Ferguson recorded “Sad Sad Day”, a rockabilly tune, on Decca Records. The B-side was “Candy Love”, which had some Buddy Holly-esque vocals. However, the single got little notice. A second Decca release in 1958 was “Til School Starts Again”. It was a commercial flop. However, a demo of one of his songs that persuaded Arnold Maxin, the managing director at MGM Records, to sign him.

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#260: Robot Man by Jamie Horton

Peak Month: September 1960
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Robot Man”
Lyrics: “Robot Man”

Gayla Rienette Peevey was born in Oklahoma City in 1943. She moved with her family at the age of 5 to Ponca City, Oklahoma. When she was ten years old she recorded “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”. In October 1953, Peevey performed the song on  The Ed Sullivan Show in an episode that aired on November 15, 1953. As a result of her song’s release, a local promoter picked up on the popularity of the song and Peevey’s local roots. A campaign was launched to present Peevey with an actual hippopotamus on Christmas. The campaign succeeded, and Peevey was presented with a hippopotamus named Matilda, which she donated to the city zoo. Matilda the hippopotamus lived to the age of 47 and died in 1998.

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#264: Got A Girl by the Four Preps

Peak Month: October 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #24
YouTube: “Got A Girl”
Lyrics: “Got A Girl”

Bruce Belland was born in Chicago in 1936. In 1946 his family moved to Los Angeles. As a star-struck 15-year-old, Belland delivered newspapers to dozens of world famous celebrities over in Beverly Hills. Those on his paper route included Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Durante, Danny Kaye, Ira Gershwin, Danny Thomas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Burns, and Rosalind Russell. This fueled Bruce Belland’s fantasy of a show business career. Edward “Ed” Cobb was born in 1938. Marv Inabnett was born in 1938 and was professionally billed as Marv Ingram. Glen Larson was born in Los Angeles in 1937. Marv Ingram starred in some episodes of the Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet in its opening season in 1952.

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#277: Jealous Of You by Connie Francis

Peak Month: June 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “Jealous Of You”
Lyrics: “Jealous Of You”

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero was born on December 12, 1938. Francis was born in the Italian Down Neck neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. She spent her firsts years as an infant and toddler in Brooklyn before the family moved back to New Jersey during her childhood. From the age of three, George Franconero recognized his daughter’s promising talent and insisted she start taking accordion lessons. However, her musical ingenuity wasn’t advanced by playing the accordion. An impoverished roofer, her father convinced Concetta to appear on stage at the age of four at the Olympic Amusement Park in Irvington, New Jersey. She played her accordion and then sang Anchors Aweigh in English and O Solo Mio in Italian. When she was ten years old she won third place The Ted Mack Amateur Hour radio for singing St. Louis Blues at the Mosque Theatre in Newark. Growing up in an Italian-Jewish neighborhood, Francis became fluent in Yiddish, which would lead her to later record songs in Yiddish and Hebrew.

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#298: Dear John/Alabam by Pat Boone

A-Side: “Dear John”
Peak Month: December 1960
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube: “Dear John”
Lyrics: “Dear John”

B-Side: “Alabam”
Peak Month: November 1960
5 weeks on CKWX’s chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #47
YouTube: “Alabam”
Lyrics: “Alabam”

Pat Boone was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 1, 1934. He was the son of Margaret Virginia (Pritchard) and Archie Altman Boone. The Boone family moved to Nashville from Florida when Boone was two years old. In a 2007 interview on The 700 Club, Boone claimed that he is the great-great-great-great grandson of the American pioneer Daniel Boone. Boone is a singer, composer, actor, writer, television personality, motivational speaker, and spokesman. He won a talent contest on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. He became a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He has sold over 45 million records, charted 38 Top 40 hits between 1955 and 1962. Boone has also appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films. He still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week.

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#326: Biology by Danny Valentino

Peak Month: June 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #95
YouTube: “Biology”
Lyrics: “Biology”

Vincent Pacimeo was born in 1941 in Flushing, New York. He was interviewed on the This Is My Story website by and Dik de Heer in 2016. Pacimeo first sang in public when he was five-years-old. Then his career as a musician was launched when he was nine-years-old and appeared “on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour television show playing the drums.” His musical influences were Al Jolson and WWII big bands (like Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman etc.). As he got better at drumming, Vince was invited to “play with older and seasoned musicians. By that time he was tap dancing and singing Broadway and movie musical songs.” Vince was inspired by the great singer and dancer, Gene Kelly. In the early 50s, singer and tap dancer Gene Kelly starred in numbers of musicals, including An American In Paris (1951), Singing In The Rain (1952), and Brigadoon (1954). Vince had a dream that he could be a great singer and dancer like Gene Kelly. In his mid-teens, Vince was captivated by jazz music. And he began to focus more on his vocal skills than his drumming.

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#339: And The Heavens Cried by Ronnie Savoy

Peak Month: November 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #84
YouTube: “And The Heavens Cried”
Lyrics: “And The Heavens Cried”

Ronnie Savoy was born in Detroit in 1941 (or 1939), and his birth name was Eugene Ronald Hamilton. Savoy told website Soul Source in 2016: “Our parents came to Detroit in the 1920s to get away from the South. My mother came from quite a comfortable  background but my father had it more difficult – he had hustled on the streets since an early age, after his mother died, when he was only thirteen. He played guitar and wrote songs – his dream was to make it as a songwriter and a singer. He would play his guitar to us coming up, usually the blues. My older brother Bobby started to pick up on the blues chords, ’cause, being the eldest, he was the first to get a guitar, but we found that music too miserable and sad.’ Although the seed was sown, no pressure was applied. ‘My parents didn’t push us into music, even though we all began to show promise at quite an early age. My father worked at Ford and advised us not to work in a factory. It was a very happy home environment. There were nine of us all together – three boys and six girls. Bobby was the spearhead. He encouraged and led us. He was the first to start writing his own songs and singing them and that inspired Kent and me. I guess the turning point for us was when we heard Billy Ward and the Dominoes. They were our greatest inspiration. Seeing them in concert in Detroit made me want to become an entertainer. I spoke to Marv Johnson years later about this and he confirmed that he’d had the same experience!”

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#396: Jump Over by Freddy Cannon

Peak Month: June 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28
YouTube: “Jump Over”
Lyrics: “Jump Over”

Frederick Anthony Picariello, Jr. was born in 1940 in the Boston suburb of Revere. His dad was a truck driver and also played trumpet  and sang several bands. Young Picariello Jr. began to play guitar in his teens. On guitar at the age of 15 he accompanied the nearby Roxbury, Massachusetts, R&B doo-wop group the G-Clefs on their hit single “Ka-Ding-Dong”. The song climbed to #17 on the Cashbox Top 100 Pop Singles chart in September ’56. After he graduated from Lynn Vocational High School, Freddy was a member of a doo-wop group called the Sandrifts. They had a local hit titled “Cha Cha Doo”. Next Picariello Jr. formed a group called Freddy Karmon & The Hurricanes.

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#413: Lovey Dovey by Buddy Knox

Peak Month: December 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “Lovey Dovey”
Lyrics: “Lovey Dovey”

Buddy Wayne Knox was born in 1933, in Happy, Texas, a small farm town in the Texas Panhandle a half hour south of Amarillo. During his youth he learned to play the guitar. He was the first artist of the rock era to write and perform his own number one hit song, “Party Doll“. The song earned Knox a gold record in 1957 and was certified a million seller. Knox was one of the innovators of the southwestern style of rockabilly that became known as “Tex-Mex” music.

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#416: China Doll by Bobby Swanson

Peak Month: November 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “China Doll”

Bobby Swanson was born in Denver, Colorado, in January, 1943. He attended South High School. When he was just 15, in the summer of 1958, Bobby Swanson traveled with his parents to Memphis. The Swansons went to Sun Records and Bobby auditioned for Sam Philips. Bobby remembers “I kept thinking this is the same microphone that Elvis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash recorded into!” Philips told Bobby to come back to Memphis when he was 18-years-old. Subsequently, Bobby’s dad was doing a job as an electrician at the home of Officer Carol MacTavish. The officer told Bobby’s father that she’d written a song titled “Rockin’ Little Eskimo”, and was trying to get it recorded by someone. Bobby’s father suggested his son. Subsequently, Bobby Swanson recorded a demo backed with a song he wrote titled “Ballad Of Angel”. It was sent to Igloo Records in Anchorage, Alaska.

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#440: No by Dodie Stevens

Peak Month: August 1960
13 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
1 week Hit bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
YouTube: “No”
Lyrics: “No”

Geraldine Ann Pasquale was born in Chicago in 1946. She and her family moved to the San Gabriel Valley in California when she was three. She soon started taking singing and dancing lessons and was a singing prodigy by the age of four. In 1954, at the age of eight, she recorded her first song, “Merry-Go Merry-Go Round”. The song was performed on the Art Linkletter’s House Party TV show, and issued on Gold Star Records under the name Geri Pace. From 1951 to 1959 Geri Pace performed at United Service Organizations (USO) shows. The USO is a nonprofit organization that provides live entertainment, such as comedians and musicians, and other programs to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families.

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#446: Cool Water by Jack Scott

Peak Month: August 1960
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #85
YouTube: “Cool Water”
Lyrics: “Cool Water”

Giovanni Dominico Scafone Jr. was born in 1936 in Windsor, Ontario, and spent some of his years growing up in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, Michigan. In 1954 he formed a band called the Southern Drifters. In 1957 he got a record deal with ABC-Paramount. He released two singles that year that sold little outside of Detroit and Cleveland. He scored four Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and two more in the Top 30 in the USA. In Vancouver Jack Scott was a teen idol with his good looks and classic rock ‘n roll. He enjoyed eight Top Ten hits on the Vancouver charts including “What In The World’s Come Over You” and his most successful hit in town, “Goodbye Baby” that peaked at #2 and spent 17 weeks on the CKWX charts in 1958. At the time, Scott had more US singles in the Billboard Hot 100 (19), in a shorter period of time (41 months), than any other recording artist – with the exception of The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino and Connie Francis. Scott charted twenty songs on the local record surveys in Vancouver between July 1958 and November 1962.

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#527: The Hucklebuck by Chubby Checker

Peak Month: December 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube.com: “The Hucklebuck”
Lyrics: “The Hucklebuck”

Ernest Evans was born in 1941 in Spring Gulley, South Carolina. He grew up in South Philadelphia. As a child, his mother took him to a show performed by child piano prodigy Sugar Child Robinson. Also at the performance was the country singer Ernest Tubb. Ernest was so inspired, that he decided to become an entertainer when he grew up. At the age of eleven he formed a street corner doo-wop group. He took up piano and while attending South Philadelphia High School, one of his friends was Fabian Forte. After school he worked at Fresh Farm Poultry on 9th Street at the Produce Market. His boss decided to give a nickname to his portly employee and called him “Chubby.”

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#1186: Piltdown Rides Again by Piltdown Men

Peak Month: December 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX’s chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Piltdown Rides Again”

Ed Cobb of the Four Preps co-founded the Piltdown Men with Lincoln Mayorga, who was an arranger with the Four Preps. Mayorga played on piano, Tommy Tedesco on six-string bass guitar, Bob Bain on guitar, Scott Gordon on saxophone, Alan Brenmanen on drums, and several other session musicians. The band released instrumentals. Edward “Ed” Cobb was born in 1938. In the Fall of 1954 Hollywood High School held an audition for their annual talent show. Thirty-five girls auditioned, but no boys. The next day the school bulletin pleaded for “any guys out there who can do anything.” Four boys in the school choir formed a quartet overnight and stepped into the crinoline void as The Four Preps. They included bass singer Ed Cobb. The Four Preps won the talent show hands down, after singing covers of songs by The Crew Cuts and The Four Lads. Signed with Capitol Records in 1956, the Four Preps connected with the record buying public in 1958 with two Top Ten hits: “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” and “Big Man”.

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#1328: Brontosaurus Stomp by Piltdown Men

Peak Month: October 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX’s chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #75
YouTube.com link: “Brontosaurus Stomp”

Ed Cobb of the Four Preps co-founded the Piltdown Men with Lincoln Mayorga, who was an arranger with the Four Preps. Mayorga played on piano, Tommy Tedesco on six-string bass guitar, Bob Bain on guitar, Scott Gordon on saxophone, Alan Brenmanen on drums, and several other session musicians. Edward “Ed” Cobb was born in 1938. In the Fall of 1954 Hollywood High School held an audition for their annual talent show. Thirty-five girls auditioned, but no boys. The next day the school bulletin pleaded for “any guys out there who can do anything.” Four boys in the school choir formed a quartet overnight and stepped into the crinoline void as The Four Preps. They included bass singer Ed Cobb. The Four Preps won the talent show hands down, after singing covers of songs by The Crew Cuts and The Four Lads. Signed with Capitol Records in 1956, the Four Preps connected with the record buying public in 1958 with two Top Ten hits: “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” and “Big Man”.

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#547: The Sock by The Valentines

Peak Month: December 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “The Sock”

The Valentines were a vocal group from Vancouver, British Columbia. The original members of the group were Irene Butler, Joy Findlay and Miki Shannon. The Valentines appeared on a local Vancouver record in 1960 called “The Blamers”. On that single, they provided a backing chorus for Les Vogt. “The Blamers” entered the CFUN Hi-Five Forty chart in Vancouver (BC) on July 9, 1960, and climbed to #1 on August 6th, where it briefly knocked Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now Or Never” out of the number one spot.

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#1298: Sentimental Kid by the Four Preps

Peak Month: August 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Sentimental Kid”

Bruce Belland was born in Chicago in 1936. In 1946 his family moved to Los Angeles. As a star-struck 15-year-old, Belland delivered newspapers to dozens of world famous celebrities over in Beverly Hills. Those on his paper route included Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Durante, Danny Kaye, Ira Gershwin, Danny Thomas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Burns, and Rosalind Russell. This fueled Bruce Belland’s fantasy of a show business career. Edward “Ed” Cobb was born in 1938. Marv Inabnett was born in 1938 and was professionally billed as Marv Ingram. Glen Larson was born in Los Angeles in 1937. Marv Ingram starred in some episodes of the Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet in its opening season in 1952.

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#569: Hushaby Little Guitar by Paul Evans

Peak Month: October 1960
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hushaby Little Guitar”

Paul Evans was born in Queens, New York, in 1938. Although he got some fame with his modest success as a teen idol, Evans is more well known for his songwriting for other performing artists. He recorded his first single in 1957 titled “What Do You Know?”, backed with “Dorothy”. His first hit song was written in 1958 titled “When”. It became a Top 20 hit for the Kalin Twins. Evans told staff with the Songfacts website about the backstory. Evans said ” I was young… 19 or 20. I would write with two or three writers a day. It was our job to write songs… just sitting around, fooling around playing songs. We wrote a song for the Everly Brothers, but they were almost impossible to get. So we brought the song up to Decca Records. The demo was just my guitar, me singing, and my co-writer singing a harmony line. We got the Kalin Twins to do it because when [Decca] heard a duet on a demo, they thought of a duet, that’s just the way it was in the business at the time. We did not write it as a personal experience. We tried. We wrote it because we wanted to write a song that we could get a record recorded on.”

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#1323: Cholley-Oop by Hong Kong White Sox

Peak Month: August 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Cholley-Oop”

Gary Sanford Paxton was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1939. He was born to an unwed mother, adopted at age three and raised by impoverished rural farmers. When he was twelve his family moved to Arizona and Paxton formed his first band at the age of 14. Meanwhile, Clyde Battin was born in Ohio in 1934 and by the age of 17 began to play the bass guitar. In 1956 Gary S. Paxton’s musical career began when he collaborated with Clyde “Skip” Battin and formed the Pledges. In 1958 they recorded “Why Not Confess”/“Johnny Risk” for Arizona-based Rev Records, crediting the song to Gary and Clyde. In 1959 they renamed themselves Skip & Flip. In the spring of the year, while Paxton was still 19-years-old they recorded “It Was I” at a recording studio in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1959. The song peaked at #11 in the USA and #9 in Vancouver. They went on tour with Alan “Moondog” Freed. Skip & Flip followed up with a cover of the Marvin & Johnny ballad “Cherry Pie” in 1960. Their cover climbed to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 in Vancouver.

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#1406: Rosemary by Brian Hyland

Peak Month: May 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Rosemary”
Lyrics: “Rosemary”

Brian Hyland was born in 1943 in Queens, New York. In his childhood Hyland learned to play the guitar and the clarinet. In 1958, while he was still 14 years-old, he formed a group named the Delfis. Though they tried to get a record contract they were never signed. In 1959 Brian Hyland got a record deal with Kapp and released “Rosemary”. The song was composed by two songwriters who never wrote another tune.

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#1236: Rockin’ Goose by Johnny And The Hurricanes

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #60
YouTube.com: “Rockin’ Goose”

John Matthew Pocisk was born in rural Ohio near Toledo in 1940. He learned to play the saxophone. Poscisk formed his first band while he was in high school. Subsequently, he formed a band in October 1957 name the Orbits. The name was taken from news stories about the Space Race between the USA and the USSR that began in the mid-50’s. On October 4, 1957, the USSR had a successful launch of Sputnik 1 which was the first satellite to orbit the earth. The band called the Orbits were based in Toledo, Ohio. They developed a following and were soon noticed by talent agents who heard one of their demos. The Orbits were approached by Harry Balik and Ira Micahnik of Artists Inc. in Detroit. Balik and Micahnik managed Little Willie John and the Royaltones. and taken under the wing of management who had their name changed to Johnny And The Hurricanes. Johnny Pocisk was billed as Johnny Paris while performing with the Hurricanes.

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Peak Month: February 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Snake In The Garden”

Not much is known about Jerry Howard. In 1959 he co-wrote “Feelin’ Low” for George Roberts And His Big Bass Trombone. The single was not a hit record. On November 16, 1959, Billboard reported that “Snake In The Garden” was “breaking” into the record and radio market in Miami. Indeed, the song was #17 on the WAME-AM survey the following week. After the single was released it got a review in the November 30, 1959, issue of Billboard magazine in their “Very Strong Sales Potential” section: “Snake In The Garden – strong performance by Howard on an interesting rockaballad with folksy flavor and the lyric based on Adam and Eve theme. Effective backing.”

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#653: Sand Storm by Johnny & The Hurricanes

Peak Month: February 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Sand Storm”

John Matthew Pocisk was born in rural Ohio near Toledo in 1940. He learned to play the saxophone. Poscisk formed his first band while he was in high school. Subsequently, he formed a band in October 1957 name the Orbits. The name was taken from news stories about the Space Race between the USA and the USSR that began in the mid-50’s. On October 4, 1957, the USSR had a successful launch of Sputnik 1 which was the first space craft to orbit the earth with a human on board. The Orbits were based in Toledo, Ohio. They developed a following and were soon noticed by talent agents who heard one of their demos. The Orbits were approached by Harry Balik and Ira Micahnik of Artists Inc. in Detroit. Balik and Micahnik managed Little Willie John and the Royaltones. and taken under the wing of management who had their name changed to Johnny And The Hurricanes. Johnny Pocisk was billed as Johnny Paris while performing with the Hurricanes.

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#659: Cincinnati Fireball by Johnny Burnette

Peak Month: October 1960
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Cincinnati Fireball”
Lyrics: “Cincinnati Fireball”

John Joseph “Johnny” Burnette was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1934. When he was four his dad bought him a Gene Autry guitar, along with one for his older brother, Dorsey. During his teens, Johnny was a member of the school baseball and football teams. Along with his older brother, Dorsey, Johnny began appearing on Memphis radio stations and playing gigs for beer money, kicks and girls. Johnny Burnette was only 17. From 1948 to 1954, the Burnette brothers lived in a housing project in the Lauderdale Courts area of Memphis. This was the same housing project where Elvis Presley and his parents lived. After leaving high school, Johnny Burnette tried to become a professional boxer, However, after one fight with a sixty-dollar purse and a broken nose, Johnny Burnette traded in his boxing gloves to work on the barges up and down the Mississippi River.  In 1953, an amateur boxer named Paul Burlison, returned from the U.S. Army to Memphis. Dorsey had met Paul Burlison when he was boxing in the late ’40’s. Dorsey, Johnny and Paul formed a trio named the Rhythm Rangers. They later renamed themselves the Rock and toll Trio. They first performed “Rockabilly Boogie” in 1953. The songs’  title was made up from the name of cousin a of the Burnette brothers named Rocky, together with the name Billy. From that songs first performance the term rockabilly was coined. Johnny Burnette is singing the lead on this with Dorsey Burnette on guitar.

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#621: Three Steps To Heaven by Eddie Cochran

Peak Month: June 1960
11 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Three Steps To Heaven”
Lyrics: “Three Steps To Heaven”

Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1938. His family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1951 where Eddie attended Bell Gardens Junior High. While there he became friends with Connie ‘Guybo’ Smith. Smith was already a promising musical talent who played bass, steel guitar and mandolin. Eddie and Connie began to jam together and gave a concert at their junior high school. Connie “Guybo” Smith went on to become Cochran’s bass player and was one of the musicians heard on most records during Eddie’s brief professional career. In 1953, while still in junior high school, Eddie met another musician named Chuck Foreman. The two experimented with Foreman’s two-track tape recorder. The pair made recordings of a number of songs including “Stardust”, “The Poor People Of Paris”, “Hearts of Stone” and the “Cannonball Rag”. Cochran graduated from Bell Gardens Junior High in 1954.

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#666: Run Samson Run by Neil Sedaka

Peak Month: September 1960
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28
YouTube.com: “Run Samson Run”
Lyrics: “Run Samson Run”

In 1939 Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Brighton Beach beside Coney Island. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America from Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1910. His fathers side of the family there were Sephardi Jews and his mother’s side Ashkenazi Jews from Russian and Polish background. Sedaka is a cousin of the late singer Eydie Gorme. When Neil was eight years old he listened to a show on the radio called The Make-Believe Ballroom that opened his world to appreciation for music. Within a year Neil had began learning classical piano at the age of nine at the Julliard School of Music. His progress was impressive and Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists after he turned 16 years old.

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#670: You’re My Love by Della Reese

Peak Month: February 1960
6 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “You’re My Love”

Delloreese Patricia Early was born in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit in 1931. The neighborhood got its name from French colonial settlers impressed by the regions fertile soil. She told The Times in 1997, “Everything was a bill in our house. There was a grocery bill. Rent was a bill and the cleaning was a bill.” Her father would take what money was left and gamble. “Sometimes he’d win and it’d be good times, and if he didn’t win, it wouldn’t be such a good time.” By the age of six Delloreese was singing gospel in a local church. When she was twelve one of her cousins were killed in the Detroit Riots. When she was thirteen she was paid to sing in Mahalia Jackson’s gospel choir. After graduating from high school at the age of 15, her mother died. When her father started a new dating relationship and had his new girlfriend move into the house, Delloreese moved out and got work as a dental receptionist, elevator operator and truck driver. She also performed in clubs and changed her name on the billing from Delloreese Early to Della Reese.

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#673: Billy, Billy Went A Walking by The Beau Marks

Peak Month: November 1960
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Billy, Billy Went A Walking”

Originally named the Del Tones when they formed in Montreal in 1958, the groups’ first single, called “Moonlight Party”, climbed to #1 in Montreal in May 1959. However, there were other bands with the same name. The Deltones had a single on Vee-Jay Records that was a minor hit in Chicago. That group had a minor hit in Philadelphia on another label in 1960 called “Strollin’ the Blues”. There was also a band from Australia called the Delltones. To avoid confusion, the Del Tones from Montreal changed their name to the Beau-Marks in 1959 in response to a political controversy. Their new name was a pun on the Bomarc, the worlds first supersonic long-range, anti-aircraft missile, developed by Boeing. The development of the Bomarc missile was accompanied by problems with its propulsion system. In 1958 the Conservative Government, led by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, was faced with two strategies for Canadian air defense. One was to produce the Avro Arrow, a very fast missile at a cost of over 12 Million per aircraft. It was created by the Canadian company, Avro Canada. The other option was to purchase Bomarc missles made by Boeing in Seattle, Washington, for 2 Million. The later missiles would be tipped with nuclear warheads. However, the Conservatives opted eventually not to have nuclear tipped missiles in Canada. With the cancellation of the Avro Arrow, the company lost over 14,000 jobs.

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#710: Terry by Leigh Bell and The Chimes

Peak Month:  February 1960
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Terry”
Lyrics: “Terry”

Leigh Bell and the Chimes were a group from Toronto. Leigh Bell’s actual name was Helen Baird. This is according to the CHUM Chart book. The Chimes consisted of Jim Clark, Myles Devine and Don Murray. Scotland born Clark and Devine were friends from the old country. They got reacquainted when they crossed paths later in Toronto. They met another high school classmate named Don Murray and formed a trio. In 1959, a local songwriter named Dick Taverner got in contact with the boys. He pitched two songs he’d co-written with Sidney Wright. After listening to the songs and they suggested they would be a better fit for a female lead singer.
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#738: What Do You Want by Adam Faith

Peak Month: March 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “What Do You Want”
Lyrics: “What Do You Want”

Terence Nelhams-Wright was born in Acton Vale, in west London, in 1940. When he was twelve he got a job as a paperboy. He wanted a better life than his bus driver father and cleaning services mother had, so Terrance left school in 1955 and got a position with Rank Studios as a messenger. In 1957, he formed a skiffle band called The Worried Men. His first three single releases all were commercial failures. However, in 1959, going by the name Adam Faith, he got a regular spot on a BBC TV rock ‘n roll show named Drumbeat. Faith became one of the regular stars to appear, along with Petula Clark, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Dickie Valentine, the Lana  Sisters (including Dusty Springfield) and Canadian pop idol Paul Anka. The TV exposure gave Adam Faith a following.
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#763: Tonight’s The Night by The Shirelles

Peak Month: October 1960
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube.com: “Tonight’s The Night”
Lyrics: “Tonight’s The Night”

The Shirelles were a girl group that formed in 1957 in order to enter a talent show at their high school. The foursome were Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee, Addie “Micki” Harris and Doris Coley. Owens was born Shirley Alston Reeves in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1941. Harris was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1940. Lee was also born in Passaic, in 1941. Coley was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1941. Their performance at that 1957 high school talent show led to a record contract with Decca Records. In 1958 they had a minor hit titled “I Met Him on a Sunday”. It was written by the foursome. The song concerned a girl who meets a guy on a Sunday. She misses him the next day, goes out on a date with him on Wednesday, kisses him on Thursday. And by Saturday she says “bye bye baby.” Such were the fates of some teens in the late 50’s checking out if there momentary crushes were solid enough to go steady.
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#773: A Teenager Feels It Too by Denny Reed

Peak Month: August-September 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #94
YouTube.com: “A Teenager Feels It Too”
Lyrics: “A Teenager Feels It Too”

Denny Reed was from Cahokia, Illinois, ten minutes east of St. Louis, Missouri. It is home to the St. Louis International Airport. Reed attended Cahokia High School. When he was sixteen years of age, among his favorite singers were Johnny Mathis and Bing Crosby. He listened to their records over and over again so he could sing just like them. Eventually, Denny Reed was able to sing higher than Mathis and lower than Crosby. In time he developed a four octave range. When he recorded “A Teenager Feels It Too”, Reed had only sung in public on two occasions. Denny says, “I recorded ‘Teenager’ in Phoenix, Arizona at Ramsey’s Audio Recorders. It was a tiny little studio, and the echo chamber was a 1000-gallon propane tank. They put a microphone inside and wired it into the control booth. Duane Eddy was also with Sill and Hazlewood.” Sill and Hazelwood re-issued “A Teenager Feels It Too” on their Trey label distributed by Atlantic Records.

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#776: Rockin’ Rollin’ Ocean by Hank Snow

Peak Month: April 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #87
YouTube.com: “Rockin’ Rollin’ Ocean”
Lyrics: “Rockin’ Rollin’ Ocean”

Clarence Eugene “Hank” Snow was born in the small community of Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 1914. He was the fifth of six children, the two eldest died in infancy. His nickname growing up in his family was Jack. At age 12 he weighed only 80 pounds and was frail. It was at this time that his mother ordered a Hawaiian steel guitar advertised in a magazine along with free lessons and several 78rpm gramophone records.

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#830: Wait For Me by The Playmates

Peak Month: October 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
“YouTube.com: “Wait For Me”
Lyrics: “Wait For Me”

The Nitwits were a vocal group that began performing in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1952. They were a trio consisting of Chic Hetti (born Carl Cicchetti) on piano and lead vocals, drummer and vocalist Donny Conn (born Donald Clapps), and Morey Carr (born Morey Cohen) on vocals and bass. All three were born in the Waterbury area. Each had attended the University of Connecticut in the early 50’s and decided to form a comedy group that also sang songs. They toured lounges in the USA and Canada. Their routine and material resembled another vocal group from the mid-50’s into the early 60’s named the Four Preps. Over five years of touring, the Nitwits shifted their focus from comedy skits with songs to being primarily a  vocal group with comedic banter between tunes. In the spring of 1957, the Nitwits got a contract with Roulette Records, becoming the labels first vocal group. They changed their name from the Nitwits to the Playmates. In the middle of the calypso craze, they released an album titled Playmates Visit the West Indies. In 1958 they had a #4 novelty hit called “Beep, Beep”. The group appeared on the Milton Berle Show in December. The single was their third Top 30 record. Since the song mentioned the Nash Rambler in the lyrics, it created a bump in sales for that model. “Beep Beep” sold a million records and got The Playmates many invitations to tour around the USA and Canada. From 1958 to 1962 they charted ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

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#866: Time Machine by Dante & The Evergreens

Peak Month: September 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #6 CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
YouTube.com link: “Time Machine”
Lyrics: “Time Machine”

Dante & the Evergreens was an American pop group formed in 1959. They group members all attended Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California. They consisted of baritone singer Bill Young, tenor Tony Moon, bass singer Frank Rosenthal and lead singer Donald “Dante” Drowdy.  Tony Moon had previously been the lead for a doo-wop group called Tony Moon and the Aketones. One of the people Dante & the Evergreens were acquainted with was Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean, who’d recently had a Top Ten hit titled “Baby Talk”. Torrence took the group to meet his managers, Herb Alpert and Lou Adler. Alpert and Adler decided the group could do a cover of one of the songs by another group on their label. The song was “Ally Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles.” Dante & The Evergreen’s version was arranged by Tony Moon. In addition to arranging the song, Moon sang and played guitar. Dante & The Evergreens cover of “Alley Oop” climbed to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the Hollywood Argyles original recording of the song went to #1. Dante & The Evergreens had a a bigger hit with the tune on the East Coast. On WMGM-AM in New York City, their version of “Ally Oop” spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and five of these at #1. They also went to #1 with  “Alley Oop” in Philadelphia, Allentown (PA), and #2 in Toronto, New Orleans, Jacksonville (FL) and Providence (RI).

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#935: Shortnin’ Bread by Paul Chaplain and his Emeralds

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #82
YouTube.com: “Shortnin’ Bread”
Lyrics: “Shortnin’ Bread”

Paul Chaplain was born in Webster, Massachusetts, in 1934. Not much is written about him on the Internet. By the late 50’s he formed a backing band known as his Emeralds. On Rate Your Music.com, the website states the backing band comprised of these musicians: Tommy Davis (lead guitar), Mike Fiddes (saxophone), Al Marble (piano), Al Weinberg (bass), Eddy Morgan (drums). Whether they were all members at the same time is not clear. Numbers of photos of the band only show four bandmates. In any event, they formed in Webster, Massachusetts. Below a March 23, 2009, YouTube.com posting of “Shortnin’ Bread”, a comment was made by William Gliniecki. He stated: “the original drummer from this band, Eddie Morgan, is still at it, and sits in once a month at an open mic I host in Webster, MA…. I’m going to see Eddie on the 17th again, so I’ll have to pick his brain more about what everyone else is up to now. We host an open mic at the Webster Polish American Citizens Club, and Eddie is a member, so he sets his drums up for general use, and always plays at least 3 or 4 tunes with me & my bass player.”

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#993: Happy Happy Birthday by Wanda Jackson

Peak Month: December 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
CFUN Twin Pick ~ November 19, 1960
YouTube.com: “Happy Happy Birthday”
Lyrics: Happy Happy Birthday”
Original version by the Tune Weavers

Wanda Lavonne Jackson was born in 1937 in Maud, Oklahoma. According to Wolf Kurt in his essay, “You Can’t Catch Me: Rockabilly Bursts Through The Door,” Jackson’s dad was a musician. In search of a better life, he relocated the family to Bakersfield, California, in the 1940’s. While in Bakersfield, her dad purchased Wanda a guitar and taught her to play. Tom Jackson also took his daughter to live concerts by Spade Cooley, Tex Williams and Bob Wills, which opened her eyes and ears to the exciting world of country and western music. It was when she was eleven years old that her family returned to Oklahoma in the fall of 1948. In 1954, while she was still sixteen years old, Wanda Jackson started to sing professionally in Oklahoma City. While in high school, Jackson had been discovered by country music recording artist, Hank Thompson, who heard Wanda singing KLPR-AM in Oklahoma City. Thompson asked Wanda to sing with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. This led to her recording several  songs with Capitol Records. Among those was a duet with the Brazos Valley Boys bandleader, Billy Gray titled “You Can’t Have My Love”. The song climbed to #8 on the Billboard country chart. From her initial success, Wanda Jackson approached Capitol Records to give her a record contract. However, she was told by producer Ken Nelson that Capitol wasn’t interested because “Girls don’t sell records.” Subsequently, Wanda Jackson got a record deal with Decca Records.

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#1011: Beatnik Sticks by Paul Revere And The Raiders

Peak Month: September 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Beatnik Sticks”

A band called The Downbeats formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. Paul Revere Dick started the band originally as an instrumental group. They had their first chart single in Vancouver in 1960, an instrumental riff on the piano tune, Chopsticks, called “Beatnik Sticks.” They changed their name to Paul Revere & The Raiders in 1960. Between 1960 and 1976 they released 41 singles. They charted five songs into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA beginning in 1966 with songs like “Kicks”, and “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and their cover of Don Fardon’s 1968 single “Indian Reservation” which peaked at #1 for the band in 1971. They were even more popular in Vancouver where they charted over fifteen songs into the Top Ten on the local charts here on the West Coast.

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#1035: Apple Green by June Valli

Peak Month: May 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube.com: “Apple Green”
Lyrics: “Apple Green”

In 1928 June Foglia was born in the Bronx, New York. Both her parents spoke Italian. Her dad, from Naples, Italy, worked as a plasterer during the day and was a part-time street singer. He taught her to sing and they listened to opera together all the time. June could hit double high Cs and go way down below an F and still be clear. She worked as a bookkeeper after her high school graduation. June was very shy and “discovered” quite by accident. In late 1950, June’s mother couldn’t attend a friend’s wedding, so June went to represent the family. The big Italian wedding was held on the second floor of a rented hall on Fordham Road, just off Arthur Avenue. After the ceremony, someone invited June up to the microphone. Although she was terrified, never having sung in public before, June managed to get through a couple choruses of the one song she knew well enough, “Stormy Weather”. Well, that “Stormy Weather” brought a lightning strike. Sid Gilbert, uncle of comedian Abe Burrows, was at the same wedding and was so impressed with June’s singing he arranged an audition for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts T.V. show where she won. She subsequently appeared on Perry Como’s and Ed Sullivan’s TV shows.

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#1270: Sweet Dreams by Don Gibson

Peak Month: November 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #93
YouTube.com: “Sweet Dreams”
Lyrics: “Sweet Dreams”

In 1928 Donald Eugene Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina. His family was poor and he stopped attending school in grade two to help out his sharecropping parents. He developed an interest in music at an early age and was inspired by recording artists like Tennessee Ernie Ford. Don Gibson began performing at local clubs before he was 18. In his late teens he held down a number of jobs including a as soda jerk, baby diaper deliveryman and dishwasher. A friend came home from Paris, France, after World War II with records by the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. This enhanced Gibson who began to experiment with different styles by his mid-teens. In 1946, he became a regular with the Tennessee Barn Dance in Knoxville, but things weren’t what Gibson expected. The fans wanted old-time country, not Gibson’s brand of crooning. He hung on to the radio job but struggled on $30 a week earned playing beer joints.

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#1070: Right By My Side by Ricky Nelson

Peak Month: May 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #59
YouTube.com: “Right By My Side”
Lyrics: “Right By My Side”

In 1940 Eric Hilliard Nelson was born. On February 20, 1949, while still eight years old, he took the stage name of Ricky Nelson when appearing on the radio program, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. A child actor, Ricky was also a musician and singer-songwriter. who starred alongside his family in the long-running television series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66), as well as co-starring alongside John Wayne and Dean Martin in the western Rio Bravo (1959). He placed 53 songs on the Billboard singles charts between 1957 and 1973. In 1958 he had his first #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, “Poor Little Fool“, which peaked at #2 in Vancouver. When he turned 21 years old on May 8, 1961, he changed his stage name from Ricky Nelson to Rick Nelson.

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#1089: Isn’t It Amazing by The Crests

Peak Month: November 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #100
Youtube.com: “Isn’t It Amazing”
Lyrics: Isn’t It Amazing”

The Crests were a doo-wop group formed by J.T. Carter with Talmadge Gough, Harold Torres and Patricia Van Dross. With a group in place Carter chose Johnny Mastrangelo to be the lead vocalist and had his name on the billing as Johnny Mastro (later changed to Johnny Maestro). Maestro’s vocal style helped The Crests rack up five Top 40 hits on the national Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. Their first record was in 1957 with “Sweetest One“. Their second single release, “16 Candles“, climbed up to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.  Van Dross left the group after their debut single release. In the late 1950’s, The Crests performed on several national teen dance shows, including American Bandstand and The Dick Clark Show. The group was inter-racial: African-American, Puerto Rican and Italian-American.

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#1100: Little Lover by Joel Hill & The Strangers

Peak Month: November 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Little Lover”

Joel Scott Hill played a mean electric guitar. A native of Naples, in eastern Texas, he moved to the Linda Vista district of San Diego, California, when he was eight. He picked up his first guitar a few years later and had a band by 1956 while still in high school. His cousin, Jeanette Hicks, had been working steadily as a country singer, recording for Okeh Records and performing throughout the south where she scored one hit, “Yearning“, a duet with George Jones on the Starday label in 1957. On a summer visit back home, Joel headed to Shreveport, 90 miles east of Naples. He had sharpened his six-string expertise well enough that Jeanette put him to work playing lead guitar during one of her appearances on the syndicated radio and TV show The Louisiana Hayride. It was an exciting professional debut for the teenager. Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton were also featured performers that night.

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#1105: Come Back to Me My Love by Mark Dinning

Peak Month: September 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Come Back To Me My Love”
Lyrics: “Come Back To Me My Love”

In 1933 Max Edward Dinning was born in the town of Manchester, Oklahoma, a hamlet of about 275 people some 70 miles southwest of Wichita, Kansas. After he became the youngest of nine children in the Dinning family, they moved to a farm near Nashville, Tennessee. His family was musical and three of his older sisters became country music trio billed as the Dinning Sisters. They performed from the early 40’s through the 1950’s. In 1950 Mark Dinning learned to play the electric guitar and pursued a career recording and performing country music on stage. He sang songs like “Streets of Laredo” which got him a recording contract in 1957. Wesley Rose, an MGM producer, got Dinning a regional hit in Tennessee in January 1959 called “The Black Eyed Gypsy” which peaked at #3 in Memphis.
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#1411: Blonde Hair Blue Eyes by Ray Smith

Peak Month: December 1960
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Blonde Hair Blue Eyes”

Ray Smith was born in 1934 in the hamlet of Melber, Kentucky, thirteen miles from the town of Paducah where the Ohio River and the Tennessee River meet. Smith was the seventh son of a sharecropper who, in turn, was also the seventh son in Smith’s grandfather’s family. His dad later worked at the atomic bomb plant in Paducah. Smith left his home at the age of twelve. He worked as a gopher on a Coca-Cola Truck and then operated an oven at Kirchoff’s Bread plant in Paducah. As he grew up Ray Smith worked as a curb hop at Price’s Barbecue at 34th and Broadway where he would serve U.S. (KY) Senator Alben W. Barkley, who later became President Harry Truman’s Vice-President. Next he worked as a sole back tacker and tack machine operator at the International Shoe Company.

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#1177: A Broken Vow by The Chordettes

Peak Month: August 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #102
YouTube.com: “A Broken Vow”
Lyrics: “A Broken Vow”

The Chordettes were a female quartette comprised of  Janet Ertel and her sister-in-law, Carol Buschmann, Dorothy “Dottie” Schwartz, and Jinny Osborn. They formed in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1946. In 1952 Lynn Evans replaced Schwartz. Originally they sang folk music similar to The Weavers. However, they shifted their sound to barbershop harmony or close harmony. Jinny Osborn was born in Seattle, Washington. She was born Virginia Cole. Her father, O. H. “King” Cole, was president of the Barbershop Harmony Society. After local performances in Sheboygan, the Chordettes were winners on Arthur Godfrey’s radio program Talent Scouts in 1949. They appeared daily on Godfrey’s program, and made a number of 10-inch EPs for Columbia Records.

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#1400: School Bus by Kris Jensen

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “School Bus”

In 1942, Peter Jensen was born in New Haven, Connecticut. From a young age, Pete was a big fan of the singing cowboys, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. When Pete was sixteen years old, he met Denise Norwood. She was a songwriter who penned “The Garden Of Eden.” This was a hit for Joe Valino. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, Jensen collaborated with Denise Norwood. He recorded numbers of her songs at her home studio. In 1959, Colpix Records released Jensen’s recording of “Bonnie Baby”. The tune made the local charts on WHIL Boston. Jensen variously recorded for Leader, Kapp, Hickory and finally White Whale. Jensen could not only sing, but also play the guitar and bass guitar. Though he would release at least sixteen singles between 1959 and 1966, he is remembered in America as a one-hit wonder. But not in Vancouver where he charted three songs on the local pop charts.

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#1225: A Kookie Little Paradise by Jo Ann Campbell

Peak Month: September 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #61
YouTube.com: “A Kookie Little Paradise”
Lyrics: “A Kookie Little Paradise”

In 1938 Jo Ann Campbell was born in Jacksonville, Florida. When she was just four years old she was enrolled in music school.  She also had a flare for choreography winning successive honors at her high school as a drum majorette. She flew to Europe in 1954 as part of a dance troupe. Afterward, she based herself in Manhattan having a successful audition with the Johnny Conrad Dancers. In that capacity she appeared on The Milton Berle Show and The Colgate Comedy Hour. She was encouraged to give attention to her vocal talents and in 1956 she recorded her debut release with RKO-Point Records in New York called “Where Ever You Go” with the Johnny Conrad Dancers. It was unsuccessful. In search of  a hit she moved on to sign with Eldorado Records after her performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem got favorable reviews. Again there were no hits resulting from several single releases. Next she signed with Gone Records and in December 1957 her single, “Wait A Minute,” spent six weeks on the CHUM chart in Toronto. Campbell also appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater and on American Bandstand.

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#1241: In the Mood by The Hawk

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “In The Mood”

In 1935 Jerry Lee Lewis was born in Ferriday, Louisiana. At the age of nine he started playing the piano. He imitated the styles of preachers and black musicians that passed through his community. His playing style was creative and outrageous. Jerry Lee Lewis rose to become one of rock ‘n rolls’  first showman in the mid-50s. He incorporated some of what he heard into his musical style from listening to radio shows like the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride. Among his influences were Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Al Jolson. At the age of ten his dad decided to mortgage the family farm so he could purchase a piano for Jerry Lee to play. Lewis first performed in public when he was fourteen years old at the opening of a local car dealership. At age fourteen he quit school and honed his musical skills. But before he became a famous recording act, Lewis sold sewing machines to help make some money.

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#1256: Pink Chiffon by Mitchell Torok

Peak Month: July 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 #60
YouTube.com: “Pink Chiffon”
Lyrics: “Pink Chiffon”

In 1929 Mitchell Torok was born in Houston, Texas. His parents were immigrants from Hungary. Torok learned the guitar at the end of elementary school. A natural athlete, Mitch went to university in Nacogdoches, Texas, on a football and baseball scholarship. While at university he was hired to write a song to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Cononco Oil Company. He also cut his first record in the late 40s while hosting a radio show in Lufkin, two hours northeast of Houston, and another radio show in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg.

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#1257: The Mansion You Stole by Johnny Horton

Peak Month: December 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #8 CFUN
Peak Position #7 CKWX
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “The Mansion You Stole”
Lyrics: “The Mansion You Stole”

John LeGale Horton was born on April 30, 1925, in Los Angeles, born to migrant fruit pickers. He spent most of his life growing up in East Texas when the family wasn’t back in California picking fruit. A great athlete, twenty-six colleges offered him basketball scholarships after his graduation from high school. Horton chose to study geology for a while in Seattle. Then in 1948 he went north to Alaska to pan for gold. While there he began to write songs. Back in the lower forty-eight, Horton was a winner at a talent contest in Henderson, Texas. This prompted him to move back to California and seek a career in music. He was a guest on Cliffie Stone’s Hometown Jamboree on KXLA-TV in Pasadena. This spawned The Singing Fisherman, Horton’s own half-hour show. He got married to a girl he met in Hollywood named Donna Cook. In high demand to perform on the Louisiana Hayride, they relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana. Touring was hard on the newlyweds and Horton got divorced.

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#1285: Put Your Arms Around Me Honey by Ray Smith

Peak Month: May 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #91
YouTube.com: “Put Your Arms Around Me Honey”
Lyrics: “Put Your Arms Around Me Honey”

Ray Smith was born in 1934 in the hamlet of Melber, Kentucky, thirteen miles from the town of Paducah where the Ohio River and the Tennessee River meet. Smith was the seventh son of a sharecropper who, in turn, was also the seventh son in Smith’s grandfather’s family. His dad later worked at the atomic bomb plant in Paducah. Smith left his home at the age of twelve. He worked as a gopher on a Coca-Cola Truck and then operated an oven at Kirchoff’s Bread plant in Paducah. As he grew up Ray Smith worked as a curb hop at Price’s Barbecue at 34th and Broadway where he would serve U.S. (KY) Senator Alben W. Barkley, who later became President Harry Truman’s Vice-President. Next he worked as a sole back tacker and tack machine operator at the International Shoe Company. Smith was in basic training in 1952 after joining the US Air Force at Sampson Air Force Base in Syracuse, New York. He sang the Hank Williams song “Lovesick Blues”, at his sergeant’s command, while in his shorts and shower clogs. His rendition got him entered in the army base’s talent show where he won first prize. From that day on he took an interest in music. He taught himself to play harmonica, guitar and piano.

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#1293: Vickie Lee by The Untouchables

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Vickie Lee”

Sheridan “Rip” Spencer was a student at Jordan High School in Los Angeles. His cousin, Brice Coefield, went to school at L.A. High. The cousins sang together and they chose to form a doo-wop group called the Sabers. In the fall of 1955 they had an audition with Cal-West Records. Rip was the second tenor, Brice was baritone and the bass singer was Walter Carter. Their recording, “Always Forever”, was a song Rip had written and it didn’t have a b-side. When they went home they got a classmate of Brice’s named Billy Hamlin Spicer to be the first tenor. The record failed to chart and the Sabers changed their name to the Chavelles.

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#1318: A Rose and A Thorn by Andy Rose

Peak Month: November 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “A Rose And A Thorn”

In 2011 there was a 31-track volume from Cat King Kole Records covering recordings by Andy Rose. He was a Paul Anka-like vocalist whose lone claim to fame was “Just Young”, a song that peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1958. A version of “Just Young” by Paul Anka charted at #80 during the same month. This was Andy’s only record to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Cashbox Magazine charts “Just Young” listed both Andy Rose and Paul Anka’s recorded versions together and the song climbed to #28. In Vancouver the song peaked at #16 on CKWX and Andy Rose had some local fans. The B-side of “Just Young” was a rockabilly tune called “Love-A-Lov-A-Love” with a clear influence from the phrasing in Buddy Holly’s songs. However, Andy Rose was born Andrew Gattuso in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was an Italian immigrant from Sicily. Andy Rose has only one child a daughter. Andy had two brothers, Roger and Sal, and one sister.

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#1384: Come Dance With Me by Eddie Quinteros

Peak Month June 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101
YouTube.com: “Come Dance With Me”
Lyrics: “Come Dance With Me”

Eddie Quinteros was born in San Francisco, California, in 1943. He started his musical career at the age of 13. At the time he was not a member of the musicians union. He was playing in a Bay area union house and got busted. After that he joined the musicians union. In 1956 he had a rock n’ roll band that did a stint in San Francisco on KPIX radio. The manager for Bobby Freeman, a singer who had the 1958 hit “Do You Wanna Dance” saw Quinteros perform shortly after Freeman’s song was starting to climb the charts. Eddie Quinteros was asked if he wanted to play guitar with them. Freeman was going to tour in Hawaii. His manager needed a guitar player who could read music. Eddie auditioned and got the job at the age of 15.

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#1388: Hully Gully Cha Cha Cha by Skip and Flip

Peak Month August 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #109
YouTube.com: “Hully Gully Cha Cha Cha”

Gary Sanford Paxton was born Larry Wayne Stevens on May 18, 1939, to an unmarried teenage couple in Coffeyville, Kansas. Raised by foster parents, he learned the story of his birth only at 17, when his mother introduced herself while he was dining at a restaurant. In his biography, Paxton said he was molested by a neighbor when he was seven, and began writing songs at age ten. When he was eleven, he contracted spinal meningitis, and was crippled for three years. He began performing with an electric Stratocaster guitar after moving to Tucson with his family as a teenager. Paxton dropped out of high school and married 14-year-old Betty Jean Brown when he was seventeen. This was his first of several marriages.

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